5/13/04

On documentaries (and a bit on "Bowling for Columbine")

All docs distort the truth, one way or another; maybe one of the greatest documentaries ever made, Triumph of the Will, paints a portrait of Adolf Hitler as godlike (the antidote to this is Resnais' Night and Fog).

I'm interested in the truth, of course, and I'm glad when I know whatever distortions the documentary does--in fact, I think it's necessary in appreciating the doc. But I'm also interested in the art of storytelling. On that score, Bowling for Columbine is as seriously flawed--as if Moore were atop some soapbox, pontificating.

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